"I got through Thanksgiving smoke free...Boy do I deserve a cigarette for that!

"I got through Thanksgiving smoke free...Boy do I deserve a cigarette for that!

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Nov 26 04 3:27 PM

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"I got through Thanksgiving smoke free...Boy do I deserve a cigarette for that!

This is a kind of strange logic that ex-smokers often feel when getting through a specific event that they had worried would be difficult without a
cigarette. Often actually facing such events is no big deal, thoughts for cigarettes are marginal at best. But when the event is over, all of a sudden the
ex-smoker drops his or her guard and thinks that vigilance is no longer an issue. Then when a thought is triggered the person can really get caught off guard
and the thought and subsequent can become much more exaggerated than the person is expecting or ready for.

Getting though a special holiday, gathering, meeting, test, wedding, funeral, flight, movie or a host of other non day to day events can be tricky for a
person who has not kept himself or herself mentally prepared. That is the key to keep the risk of relapse minimized when facing new situations--being
mentally prepared by keeping ones reasons for quitting strong and reasons for wanting to stay smoke free reinforced.

The mindset that should be used to get through holidays is kind of the same mindset that a person should use when getting through quit milestones. Getting
through a week or a month, or a year or a decade is great. But getting though today, whether it is your first day or you thousandth day is the greatest
accomplishment of all when it comes to addiction. For if you have a friend who had been totally smoke free for the previous few decades, but happened to have
blown his or her quit last night--today is really a lousy day for him or her in regards to nicotine addiction. For all practical purposes, you are much
further along and secure in your quit than this person is--even if today is only your second or third day being nicotine free.

So congratulations on getting through your first Thanksgiving smoke free. More important now though is staying resolute in your resolve to get through
today. To be able to keep celebrating all holidays smoke free, as well as all weekdays and weekends for the rest of your life is as simple now as just
remembering to never take another puff!

LOL this thread sounds oh so familiar to me. In my previous uneducated quits, that was my mindset.

I would go all week without smoking. Then on the weekend I would go out to the bars with my friends. Every
weekend would be the same. I would allways say "Wow I've done so good this week, that I deserve a cigarette."

Then I would pull off my nicotine patch(that's how I allways tried to quit) and smoke about 10
cigarettes.

This vicious cycle would go until I finally couldn't take it anymore and just start smoking full fledged
again.

Now with all the education I have I say "Wow, I've done so good these past few months, that I
don't deserve a cigarette!"

Yesterday(thanksgiving) came and went without one single urge to smoke. I had one thought of cigarettes'
yesterday. I looked outside in the backyard and thought how happy I was that I didn't have to go out there in the cold to feed that nasty addiction
anymore.

Well everyone have a great nicotine free day!! NTAP!!!!!!!!

YQB,

ERIC

I have been quit for 4 Months, 2 Weeks, 5 Days, 9 hours, 8 minutes and 34 seconds (142 days). I have saved
$800.88 by not smoking 4,271 cigarettes. I have saved 2 Weeks, 19 hours and 55 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 7/7/04

Hi, I have to go to work! BUT, I had to join in here. Joel, thanks for the reinforcement. For me,
it was not necessarily Thanksgiving Day....but it sure was 2 days after when all company was gone! And it has happened before and I have wondered about
that. And, I love the idea that the "mindset" is getting through a period of time....BUT, the beauty and great accomplishment is to not take a
puff TODAY! Thanks.

Eric, gosh! I had the same experience before quitting! I used NRT during the week....then on the weekends.... and I, too, was at the
verge of just going back full time....Thanks to education and support at Freedom! I am....FREE.

Katie - After 40 Years! Free and Healing for One Month, Fourteen Days, 22 Hours and 44
Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 2 Days and 15 Hours, by avoiding the use of 764 nicotine delivery devices that would have cost me
$153.10.

Joel, thank you for bringing this up. The holiday triggers for me came before the actual big day...they came in the days leading up to it. We travelled to our
Thanksgiving destination 20 hours by car, which was the first long road trip for me. I had prepared mentally, and expected some triggers, which did in fact
occur...as well as once we got there and the family activities began.

All firsts must be faced, some are bigger than others...some we expect to have triggers more than others. I got through the holidays just as you said...I
approached them one day, one hour even, at a time. And yes, I had to talk myself down from a few ledges, but I feel all the stronger for it.

I give thanks this year for finding you and the family at freedom, who will help me to see many more Thanksgivings than I would have had I not chosen to never
take another puff.

For our Canadian friends who may need a bit of encouragement
this Thanksgiving weekend. (of course, no encouragement needed
to eat the turkey, but perhaps a boost to remain cold turkey quit.)
(Canada's Thanksgiving holiday is on the second Monday in October).

And for those of you who are yet enslaved to nicotine - give cold turkey
quitting an honest chance, before this addiction gobbles you up.

Wendy&RandyGiving thanks for our freedom in beautiful west coast
British Columbia Canada since July 2006 & Nov. 2006.